If you’re prone to checking the swell forecast in anticipation of big waves, the quest to scale a behemoth of a wave will likely be a priority. If such a thing conjures images of Johnny Utah in Point Break, feast your eyes on the life of Garrett McNamara, a man who has made it his life-long quest to scale what many deem to be surfing’s Everest: a 100-foot wave.
For decades, when it came to surfing and big waves, it was Greg Noll who came to mind. In 1969, Noll scaled a 35-foot monster on the West Side of Oahu in a feat many deemed to be the biggest wave ever ridden. Many in the surfing world contested whether such a thing occurred, unable to envision what a wave of that size and scale would even look like, let alone how a human would be able to ride it. It led many to travel the world in search of rare spots that promised such elusive scenes of huge waves and the daredevil surfers willing to risk it all to ride them.
It wasn’t until McNamara though, that such things became a reality. When McNamara discovered Nazaré in Portugal, he elevated the small fishing village to the world’s destination for big waves. McNamara now holds the Guinness World Record for the largest wave ever surfed. Now, the destination sees countless fearless surfers attempt the impossible, looking to take on a 100-foot wave that would see anyone else left scrambling for dry ground.
It’s this story that HBO will capture in a six-part Sports Documentary series, 100 Foot Wave. The series will follow the decade-long journey of McNamara and how he discovered the fishing village in Portugal and helped push the sport beyond what many thought was humanly possible. The official description for the series reads: “The series intimately captures the decade-long odyssey of surfing pioneer – Garrett McNamara – who, after visiting Nazaré, Portugal in hopes of conquering a 100-foot wave, pushed the sport to ever-greater heights and alongside locals, helped transform the small fishing village into the world’s preeminent big-wave surfing destination.”
As Deadline reports, “100 Foot Wave interweaves the transformative story of a small seaside village with McNamara and his peers’ ongoing search for surfing’s Everest. The series captures the common spirit and fearless passion shared by big-wave surfers from across the world as they push themselves beyond life-altering injuries and tantalising near-misses in their collective pursuit of the inconceivable.”
The series has been directed and executive produced by Chris Smith, the man behind such documentaries like Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, & Madness, and Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened. Currently, the series is scheduled to release on both HBO and HBO Max in a few month’s time, before hitting Binge here in Australia shortly after.
